Happy Birthday Robert!
by darkwriterff
Summary: This is written for the "Robert Sugden Birthday Fic" prompt on tumblr. This is a oneshot, In my story, Aaron isn't going through this story line and the boys have been together for a year or so. Not cannon compliant. I'm not British, so the British Slang may be awful, sorry! Aaron comes up with a creative birthday present for Robert's 30th.
**"Morning love,"** Aaron says as he drops the breakfast tray onto the night stand.

 **"What's this?"** Robert asks wiping the crust from his eyes and sits up onto his elbows. He blinks a few times trying to get his eyes to focus and then looks up to Aaron. Aaron takes a deep breath as his eyes wonder to Robert's firm pecs and porcelain skin. They wonder down his torso where the blanket is bunched around his waist. Robert smirks and lays back down, exposing more of his torso.

 **"It's birthday breakfast, ya idiot,"** Aaron catches himself staring and leans over to place a small kiss to Robert's nose.

Robert smiles and hums as he lifts his head up a bit to catch Aaron in a short kiss. Aaron smiles into the kiss and then pulls back. He turns his back to Robert and lifts the tray off of the night stand and carefully places it on the birthday boy's lap. **"Eat up, we have a busy day ahead of us."** Aaron says, gaining a confused look from Robert.

 **"You only turn 30 once,"** Aaron winks and gets up from the bed and leaves Robert even more confused than he was before.

Robert survey's the tray, he has a full English Breakfast complete with coffee. He smiles to himself as he thoroughly enjoys the food. He picks up the napkin and finds the letter "W" written in Aaron's scribble. He cocks his head to the side and then smiles when he realizes that Aaron has planned a scavenger hunt of sorts.

He bounces up out of their shared bed so quickly he knocks the tray off balance and it crashes onto the bedroom floor. After silently swearing to himself, Robert cleans up the tray and heads into the bathroom to wash his hands. Written in erasable marker on the mirror was the letter "L." Robert mentally writes both letters in his mind and washes his hands quickly and returns the tray to the kitchen.

Robert finds Aaron washing up from the night before. He walks behind of the other man and slowly wraps his arms around his waist and pulls him tight. **"Mmmm,"** Aaron hums, **"Having a good birthday so far?"**

Robert nuzzles his nose in Aaron's neck and places a small kiss below his ear. **"I've found some mysterious letters laying around. Know anything about that?"** Robert teases Aaron's ear lobe with his teeth.

Aaron turns into the taller man's embrace and wraps his arms around Robert's neck. They get caught up in a slow passionate kiss full of love and compassion. Aaron breaks the kiss first, finding the need to breathe overwhelming. He pulls back and rests his forehead against the taller man's and takes a slow deep breath. **"You still take my breath away,"** he whispers. Robert thrusts his hips into Aaron's and he gasps, feeling his penis becoming alert.

 **"Happy Birthday, love,"** Aaron whispers as he leans in for another passionate kiss. He tries to still his nerves as he gives his all to this kiss. He wants Robert to feel a fraction of what he feels for him and he tries to put all that feeling behind the kiss. Robert breaks away and smiles.

 **"So, these letters I keep finding,"** Robert smirks. **"Are you going to tell me what they mean?"**

 **"No,"** Aaron says and pulls back from the embrace and busies himself with the washing again.

 **"You tease,"** Robert wraps his arms around Aaron again and turns him around. **"What makes you think I'm finished with you?"** Robert smirks before stealing a quick kiss and pushes Aaron against the counter. Robert makes quick work of Aaron's drawstrings and drops his sweats to the floor. Aaron gasps as he feels Robert's hand wrap around his member and begin to tug it to life. Aaron breathes deeply into the kiss and uses all the will power that he has to push Robert off of him and shakily pulls his trousers back up. **"Tease,"** Robert whispers and nips his ear again.

Aaron focuses on calming himself and his breathing before he gasps out, **"We have a busy day planned."**

Robert smiles and lets go of his boyfriend and sits down at the kitchen table. **"What's on the agenda then?"** Aaron busies himself by pouring another cup of coffee and setting it down in front of Robert. " **You have about 11-12 more letters to find, and then dinner with the family."**

Robert sighs, **"Your family or mine?"**

 **"Both,"** Aaron says as he sits down beside of Robert. **"We're all going to try to sit down and have a lovely birthday dinner for you, because we all love you. Even if they can't all** show **it."**

Robert takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of his nose, **"And we can't make love before dinner? How am I supposed to be cheerful enough without having your body next to mine all day?"**

Aaron rests his hand on Robert's cheek, **"Love, you'll manage."** He smirks and stands up, **"I'm getting dressed. Unless you want to go for a walk in your hot tight pants, you should as well."**

Robert stands from the table and begins to brave the staircase. At the top, on a sticky note stuck to the framed photo of the duo, he finds the letter "M."

 **"Hmmm,"** Robert hums to himself, **"W, L, M?"** He decides he need to write these letters down so that he doesn't forget them and also put them together and figure out what they spell. He's sure Aaron isn't going to give any hints, if this morning was any indication.

He pulls the sticky note off of the glass frame and walks back into the bedroom to grab a pen. When he opens the night stand drawer, he finds another sticky note with the letter "Y."

Robert smiles, he's actually starting to enjoy this game Aaron has created just for him. **"W, L, M, and Y?"** He shrugs, still no clue what the letters mean and writes them all down on the sticky provided. He closes the drawer and walks to the bed and begins to make it up. After fluffing up the pillow, he spies a yellow piece of paper sticking out of the pillow case. Robert smiles and reaches for the sticky note and finds the letter "A,"written on it.

 **"Aaron!"** Robert shouts. Aaron walks out of the bathroom and leans against the door jam, **"Yes?"** He smirks.

 **"Thank you for this."** Robert slowly walks to Aaron and rests his hands on Aaron's hips. **"This is the best birthday."** He leans in and kisses the shorter man.

 **"And you haven't figured out the letters yet?"** Aaron smugly asks.

 **"Not in the slightest."** Robert answers and kisses Aaron on his cheek.

 **"What letters have you found so far."** Aaron walks back into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

 **"W, L, M, Y, and I believe this last one was A,"** Robert answers putting his toothpaste on his toothbrush.

 **"You have 3 more up here to find."** Aaron nonchalantly says.

Robert nudges Aaron with his shoulder, **"Any hints?"**

Aaron quietly continues brushing his teeth, pretending to ignore the question.

 **"Tease,"** Robert jokes and begins to fiddle with his hair in the mirror. While looking at his reflection, a sticky note posted on the back of the door catches his attention.

 **"Aha!"** He says and pulls the note off of the wall. "R," he says and adds it to the other sticky note. **"W, L, M, Y, A, and R. No clue."** He shrugs and tucks the sticky note into his shirt pocket, where he again finds another note. **"How did you know that I was going to wear this shirt?"** He asks incredulously.

 **"Simple, I put it on the top of the drawer so that you'd see it first,"** Aaron shrugs. **"What letter is it?"**

Robert pulls the paper from his shirt pocket and answers, " **U."** He smiles and writes the letter down with the others and pulls his wallet out of his trouser pocket to tuck it for safe keeping. When he opens the wallet, he finds a sticky note with the letter, "I." He laughs, **"My wallet?"** Aaron whistles and walks away silently laughing to himself.

 **"W, L, M, Y, R, U, and I. Aaron, will you at least tell me how many words are in this phrase?"** Robert asks closing his wallet and putting it back into his trouser pocket.

Aaron makes a zipping motion over his lips and smiles, **"You ready?"** He motions his head to the door and holds his hand out, expecting Robert to take it.

Robert smiles and accepts Aaron's hand and tucks their conjoined hands into his trouser pocket, **"Where to?"** He asks as he's being led out of the bedroom.

Aaron waggles his eyes and leads Robert down the stairs and out the door. When they get to the end of the drive, Robert spots a note on the mailbox and laughs out loud, **"This is such a fun game."** His smile falls as he looks to Aaron, **"I love you so much. Thank you for making this day special."**

Aaron nods towards the note and says, **"Well, you're a pretty special guy who deserves a special day,"** and leads him to the mailbox.

 **"Another R?"** Robert answers and pulls out his wallet to add the sticky note to his other letters. **"I have W, L, M, Y, A, R, I, U and another R?"**

Aaron nods and takes Robert's hand and leads him down the driveway and out to the road. They walk and talk, all the while Robert keeps his eyes out for another note. He's almost disappointed that he didn't find any on the walk when Chas joins the duo. After hugging Aaron, she hands Robert a white envelope, **"Happy Birthday, Robert,** " she says and heads back towards the pub. Robert smiles and opens his "Happy Birthday,"card. He laughs out loud when he opens it and the only thing written on the inside of the card was the letter,"E."

 **"W, L, M, Y, A, R, I, U, R, E... Aaron, couldn't you give me the letters in order?"** He chuckles and adds the letter to the others and tucks them back into his wallet. **"How many letters are left?"** He asks as they head to the pub.

Aaron shrugs and begins walking towards the pub. He could tell that Robert was spinning the letters around in his head, trying to figure out what they spelled. They pass Paddy's place and Robert spots a note on the shrubs in front of his mailbox.

 **"Is the whole village involved in this little game of yours?"** Robert asks as he picks up the sticky note. On it, he finds the letter, "L."

 **"How many are left?"** He asks as he adds it to his collection.

Aaron shrugs, **"Oh, just a few more I think,"** and leads him further down the road to the pub.

Robert's now whispering the letters in different combinations, trying to figure out what they say, but he can't quite figure it out. Aaron has a moment of nervousness when he hears Robert whisper, **"M...A...R...R...Y? No, that can't be right."**

Aaron smiles and pecks Robert on the cheek and motions for him to keep walking. When they pass the bus stop, Adam is waiting for the duo with a plain brown box and a note. **"Vic sends her apologies, she's not going to be able to make it to dinner. She has some big party to cater or something."** He shrugs and hugs Aaron and then hands Robert the box with the note. **"Here mate, Happy Birthday,"** and gives him an awkward hug.

Aaron takes the box from Robert, **"We can open it when we're at the pub and can have a chance to sit down."** He turns to Adam, **"Thanks mate. See ya in a bit?"**

Adam nods and starts off towards the pub.

Robert opens his card and laughs when the only thing written on the note was the letter, "M."

 **"Ok love, here we go... W, L, M, Y, A, R, I, U, R, E, L, and M? Must be one heck of a surprise if your mum, Paddy, and Adam are helping you with it."**

Aaron smiles and takes Robert's hand, still playing the silent game. Robert continuously tries to figure out the letters and is still stumped as to what Aaron's trying to say. Aaron laughs to himself, it should be pretty obvious at this point, but he keeps his patience and continues his trek to the pub.

They walk past a random light pole, and Robert spots a yellow piece of paper taped to it. He smiles and goes to gather the note. He finds another, "Y," written on it. Aaron smiles at the confused look on Robert's face and just continuously walks towards the pub.

Taped on the door of the Woolpack, Robert finds the final note with the letter, "O," written on it. He pushes the door to the pub open and is startled when his entire family along with Aaron's entire family shout, **"Happy Birthday!"**

Robert jumps back and then laughs at his reaction and enters the pub. His eyes immediately find his sister and he walks quickly over to her. **"I thought you were catering some big party?"** He says hugging her. She leans back from the hug, still keeping her arms around her brother's neck, **"I am."** Robert smiles and hugs her one more time before he walks around the pub. He makes sure to hug every person who's taken the time to come celebrate his birthday and then walks to Aaron, who's sitting at a small table alone.

 **"Have you figured out the letters yet?"** Aaron asks taking a sip of Robert's beer.

Robert shakes his head, **"Not yet,"** and pulls out the notes. **"W, L, M, Y, A, R, I, U, R, E, L, M, Y, O... So if I'm right, since 'W' was the first letter that I found, and you made sure that it was, the first word starts with 'W'. If that's true, the next letter needs to be a vowel..."** Robert studies the notes, **"If 'I' is the vowel, then the 'L' could come next... maybe 'Will'?"** He looks to Aaron for confirmation. Aaron smiles and nods.

 **"Ok, first word is 'Will'..."** He stands to go to the bar and takes a pen that Chas is holding up.

 **"You know what it says don't you?"** He asks. She just nods and turns to Paddy, **"Pint?"**

He smiles and shakes his head, **"I see there's no help to be had from you lot?"**

He sits down and writes the word, "Will" on the note. **"Ok, I can clearly see the words 'you' and 'me' in these letters, so let's mark those off. The only ones left are 'M, Y, A, R, and...R..."** He looks up to Aaron who is now standing up from his chair.

 **"Will you marry me? Will... you... AARON!"** Robert says with tears building up in his eyes **, "Is that it? Will you marry me? WILL YOU MARRY ME? Is that...Aaron?"** Robert looks from the paper into Aaron's eyes, where he sees nervousness.

Aaron opens the brown box from Adam and pulls out a small ring box and gets down on one knee.

 **"Robert, we've been through a lot me and you. But the one thing that always remained constant, was you. You were my strength, my touchstone. When I lost my path, you brought me back. When things seemed like they were caving in on me, you saved me."** Aaron opens the box and Robert sees the most beautiful set of platinum rings, with a small claddagh carved into the metal. **"So, Robert, I'm going to ask you a question..."** He takes a deep breath and holds up the box, **"Will you marry me?"**

Robert, with tears now streaming down his face, kneels down beside of Aaron. He frames Aaron's face with his hands and whispers, **"Yes, yes! Aaron, yes, I will marry you."** He leans in and gives Aaron an Eskimo Kiss before softly kissing Aaron's soft lips.

The pub erupts in cheers, but the duo are busy wrapped up in themselves to notice.

The duo stand up and Aaron slips the ring onto Robert's finger and then hands the box to Robert to do the same.

 **"Happy Birthday, Robert."** Aaron whispers and kisses Robert's ringed hand.

 **"I love you,"** Robert answers.

Aaron smiles, **"And I love you."**

 **THE END**


End file.
